Gun Media & Illfonic Reveal New Details About Friday The 13th: The Game

I hope you all had a safe & happy Halloween yesterday, hopefully you’re not all suffering from sugar induced hangovers today.

Of course, candy wasn’t the sweetest thing that we received yesterday. Gun Media & Illfonic posted an update on the Kickstarter page for Friday The 13th: The Game, where they shared Halloween messages from Sean Cunningham, Kane Hodder, and Harry Manfedini. They also revealed a new interview with Sean Cunningham and Wes Keltner (Co-Creator of Friday The 13th: The Game), a brand new reward tier on the campaign, and new artwork revealing another playable Jason. And more…

Jason didn’t always wear a hockey mask…
They’ve confirmed Sackhead Jason from Part II. As we all know pictures say 1,000 words, so they shared a piece of beautiful artwork revealing Jason performing a rather memorable kill from Part III.
Of course this is the same manner in which they previously announced their other playable versions of Jason. Fans will recognize the Jason featured in the game trailer as being from Part VII, while their key art at the top of the page features him from Part III. Which version of Jason are you waiting to see?

Happy Halloween Messages from the Masters of Horror

An interview with Sean Cunningham & Wes Keltner
They talk about how the project came to be and what that means for them and the fans…

They also mentioned that they’ll be posting more behind the scenes roundtables where they’ll go in-depth about the series and the project.

New reward tier…
Based on the fan feedback, they’ve opened up a new tier that’ll allow you to get your hands on a Physical copy, All of the Digital Artbook & Wallpaper packs, All of the exclusive DLC, and an additional key for a digital copy of the game to use for themselves or to give a friend… All for $129.

A brief recap of the week…

An interview with Harry Manfredini & Wes Keltner…

Earlier in the week Gun Media & Illfonic hosted a Reddit AMA session, this was an opportunity for their fans to connect with them directly and get their burning questions answered. One of the most sought after features for the game is the single player campaign that is currently a stretch goal on their Kickstarter campaign, which states “the proposed single player portion will give you the Jason experience you’ve never had; direct through his eyes. We’ll be offering several ‘scenarios’ based off classic movie scenes from the franchise as you stalk and kill each and every counselor from a first person perspective.” They also stated that playing as Jason wouldn’t be the only option made available in this mode. “Not to leave the counselors out, we’ll be adding several counselor scenarios where you’ll have to confront your fears and take on Jason directly, especially in compromising situations!”

However during the AMA they further confirmed that it will provide, “references to some of the very intense moments from the films as well as brand new hand-crafted scenarios that we’ve designed along with Sean S. Cunningham, Kane Hodder and Tom Savini to give you the best Friday the 13th experience possible,” featuring a “wide variety of characters from the films.”

Of course they talked about more than just the single player campaign. During my interview with Wes I asked, how big of a map could we expect to see? And what locations are planned? He wasn’t ready to answer at that time, however it came up again during the session and here’s the answer. “Right now, we’ve got one map that is one medium sized open world area of Camp Crystal Lake. We have stretch goals to include more parts of the game, can’t wait to reveal them as we get further along on the Stretch Goals. We might even have a few other locations from the film series.”

I also asked to get an idea of what the matches were going to look like in terms of length, this was another question that Wes wasn’t able to answer at the time. However they revealed that the “Rounds can last anywhere from 10-20 minutes usually. Time really flies by when you are playing too, it all depends on how well the counselors or jason is playing. Some matches can be over very fast, some can last quite a while.” This should give you an idea of the depth that will be involved in every round.

Of course part of what makes the series great, is that you’re provided with a genuine mix of realistic and recognizable characters that we can all relate with. We’ve all know people that shriek at every little jump scare, think they’re the greatest thing to cast a shadow, and then those that know they’re pretty damn smart/ talented… because they are. Wondering how that plays out in the game? “We’ll be giving you a chance to call the cops by repairing a phone box,” explains Gun Media.“We’ll offer ways to tackle Jason head on and survive through the night! We will not have daytime, its all happening at night. We’re looking at sleeping bags as being a hiding place. Jason will have an ability to find you with a mechanic. Finding good hiding spots will make it more difficult for him to find you, a sleeping bag is a good example. The thing is, if he finds you…well, you know the rest.” Of course this eludes to the famous sleeping bag kill as performed by Kane Hodder in Part VII, which has recently been revised from being a stretch goal to being available at launch provided the game is 100% funded at the baseline $700K goal.
Then again, the stretch goals also reveal the sleeping bag kill from the remake. Which do you prefer?

You’ll be presented with a variety of options to survive, “You can either defeat Jason (very hard/ unlikely), find a vehicle and repair it to escape from Camp Crystal Lake or find and repair the phone line to call the cops and survive until they show up (you’ll also have to reach them.)” So you’ll be able to craft the experience you want, do you run & hide, play it smart, or take on the man himself?

Just remember, survival isn’t a team sport, “Everyone can live and die independently of each other. You are entirely responsible for your own survival. Working with/against/ others or working by yourself all has pros/cons.” And keep in mind they’ve developed a Fear system that’ll be working against you as well, “You will be managing that fear system by making smart decisions: Stay with others, stay away from Jason, stay in the light, go for objectives and the like. The smarter you play and the more you work to stay alive, the better you’ll be able to manage fear!”

Perhaps you’ll let the character progression goals be your guide through the match in an effort to maximize XP earned, “bonuses for particular tasks. A bit of that comes with your creativity during play, of course.” That’s right they’re developing a rich progression tree very much like an RPG, to keep you engaged throughout.

So far they’ve been able to confirm a public beta run for the PC, however they’re still in talks with Sony and Microsoft about getting the it onto the PS4 & Xbox One to ensure they’re able to get it in front of as wide of an audience as possible before the game releases Fall 2016.

During the AMA they dropped a hint that they’re going to be releasing a gameplay trailer “very, very soon.” Considering there are only 12 days left on the campaign, I can only imagine this would be revealed in the coming days… I’ll be keeping a close eye out for it.

Even though the Kickstarter has been incredibly successful thus far, raising $581,929 towards their $700,000 baseline goal, they still need $118,071 and 12 days to make the game a reality. I know that we, the fans & campaign backers, can make it happen as long as we continue spreading the word and getting it in front of as many people as possible. However in the unlikely event that they’re unable to get the game funded during this Kickstarter round, Gun Media said they’ll “do whatever it takes to make sure it gets made. It won’t be as big, it won’t be as epic, but it will be made and we will make it as fun as possible!” I don’t know about you, but that sounds like settling… let’s make sure they don’t need to do that.